Netanyahu calls the pact “illegal” and threatens to break it if he returns to head of government in elections next week
After two years of negotiations, Israel and Lebanon have signed the maritime agreement that opens up the possibility of exploiting gas reserves in the Mediterranean. It is a historic agreement between two neighbors technically at war who agree to establish for the first time, and thanks to the mediation of the United States, a sea border to share the energy resources of the high seas.
Leaders on both sides welcomed the pact. Lebanese chief negotiator, Elias Bou Saab, spoke of the dawn of “a new era” and Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib told Al-Jazeera that “our people have great hopes that their country will become a gas producer. The Lebanese are suffocated by the severe economic crisis the country is experiencing and are holding on to this agreement as a means of securing resources, though leaders warn it will take time to start extracting gas.
In Israel, a more political than economic reading was made. The government ratified the final text and the Prime Minister, Yair Lapid, spoke of a “political achievement” because “it is not every day that a hostile state recognizes the State of Israel in a written agreement, in front of the entire international community.” Lapid is in the midst of the election race and his main rival in Tuesday’s nomination, Benjamin Netanyahu, was the most critical voice with a pact he called “illegal”. The Likud leader warned that if he wins the election, he will not feel obliged to respect what has been signed.
Thanks to this pact, the Lebanese and Israelis will start working in an area of 860 square kilometers where Karish, a gas source that has already been confirmed, and Qana, another source whose reserves are being studied, are located. The Jewish state is responsible for the exploitation of Karish and Lebanon will have the rights to Qana, although it will have to share future benefits with its neighbor because part of the deposit is on its land.
In the absence of diplomatic relations between the two countries, the agreement was formalized through documents crossed by US officials deployed to the UN base in Naqoura, right on the border. Beirut insists the agreement does not represent any sort of normalization with Israel, but Israelis see it as a major step forward to avoid potential future conflicts with the Shia Hezbollah militia.
Source: La Verdad
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